The present invention relates to a plastic handle member for manually guided power chain saws, and has a one-piece, at least partially tubular, front handle for holding a motor unit, the front handle having mounting means for receiving vibration-damping elements; the handle member also has a rear control handle, in the upper portion of which are disposed components for controlling a gas lever and for controlling starting of the chain saw.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,160,321, Kallberg et al, discloses a handle comprised of a plurality of individual parts that surround the motor unit; provided in the forward region of the motor unit is a handle that extends over the motor unit and forms a handgrip for the left hand of an operator. Disposed on this handle are receiving means for vibration-damping elements via which the motor unit is supported in a vibration-damping manner relative to the handle. Disposed in the rear region of the motor unit is the control handle, which is separate from the remaining parts of the handle. This control handle comprises an upper portion in which are accommodated the start and gas lever elements. This handle portion is connected to a side bar and to a bar that is disposed on the underside of the motor unit and leads toward the front to the handgrip. The overall handle, which comprises a plurality of individual parts that are interconnected by connecting means, forms a closed unit. The drawback of this known handle is that such an embodiment of a handle comprising a number of different individual parts is technically complicated and expensive to manufacture, especially since the connecting elements between the individual parts of the handle must be of such a stability or rigidity that they permanently withstand the various forces that act upon them. Furthermore, the individual aluminum parts of the handle are configured in different ways depending upon their function, so that the entire handle unit must be manufactured from a number of individual parts that are formed and dimmensioned in different ways.
German Offenlegungsschrift DE 38 11 788 discloses a plastic front handle for a power chain saw in which the mounting elements for receiving vibration-damping elements of the motor unit are integrated in such a way that the front handle forms a closed entity formed from tubular sections and flat, solid wall sections made of the same material. This known handle encompasses only the front power chain saw handle that accommodates the motor unit, so that independently of this front handle the actual control handle, with its control elements, must be flanged onto the rear portion of the motor unit as a separate component with appropriate reinforcement bars via appropriate connection means.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to embody a plastic handle member for manually guided power chain saws in such a way that the entire handle unit, which comprises a front handle and a rear control handle, including a connecting portion that reinforces the plastic handle and connects the two handle parts in the lower region of the motor unit, is embodied in such a way that the entire handle member can be manufactured in a single operation and is embodied such that no additional connecting and/or reinforcing elements are necessary.